You Can Be Your Own Hero

Yesterday, I read about going with the flow and today, I read about awakening the inner warrior!

Somehow, that makes sense to me because life is a balance between the two.  Trusting that your life is unfolding as it is supposed to creates an inner peace and calm, a reservoir of strength.  But, there are times when you are called to defend yourself, your family, your friends, even your country.  My Mom used to say, "If you don't stand for SOME THING, you will fall for anything."

I have two sides to me, and you probably do too? ... The side that is capable of walking away from insignificant and unnecessary drama ... and another side that is ready, willing and able to throw my hat in the ring!

Stoking The Fire Within
Awakening The Inner Warrior

There are certain personality archetypes that we all carry within us, such as the inner child, the lover, and the mother. Some of these archetypes present themselves strongly, while others lay fallow. For example, there is an inner warrior in each one of us, but in some of us this warrior is underdeveloped to the point that we are unable to stand up for ourselves, even when necessary. There can be many reasons for this. We may have grown up with a parent whose warrior aspect was overdeveloped, and we responded by repressing ours completely. On the other hand, we may have grown up with parents in whom this aspect was dormant, so we never learned to awaken it in ourselves.

A warrior is someone with the strength to stand up for what he or she believes; someone who perseveres in the face of challenges and obstacles; someone who speaks and acts in the service of an ideal; someone who protects those who are too weak to fight for themselves.

Regardless of the reasons for an underdeveloped inner warrior, you may begin to notice the lack of its fiery, protective presence and wish to awaken it. You may need to stand up for yourself in a certain relationship or situation, or you may have a vision you want to realize, and you know you will need the courage, energy, and strength of a warrior to succeed. Similarly, if you find that you often feel scared, anxious, or powerless, rousing this sleeping ally may be just the antidote you need.

One excellent way to cultivate the presence of your inner warrior is to choose a role model who embodies the qualities of bravery, strength, and vitality. This person could be a character in a myth, movie, or book, or a historical or living person you admire.  Simply close your eyes each day and contemplate the quality of energy that attracts you to this person, knowing that the same potential lives within you.

Confirm for yourself that you are capable of handling this energy responsibly, and stoke the fire of your own inner courage.

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The warrior archetype is alive and well in me ... but warriors know who the REAL ENEMIES are ... and sometimes, the enemy is me!  There are a lot of things that can make me angry but being a warrior doesn't mean that we go to the wall on everything!  Sometimes, things that make us angry are the very things that we don't need to fight about.

Let me explain ... 

 

If you are in a car accident and it's the other guys fault and they come running up to you, screaming and yelling, that would be the time to answer calmly and try to bring some peace and calm to an already tense situation.  Simply stay put and call 911.

If you are in a store and a clerk is rude to you, you might be capable of dressing the little dear down but what would be the point?  You know who you are.  You also know that people only act that way when they are under some sort of pressure, so instead of telling them off, you could calmly say, "It seems like you are having a bad day.  I'm sorry.  I'll come back when you are in the mood to sell me something." and just leave.

 

Neither of those situations is anything to lose our peace over!

 

Anger and Frustration are not useful tools for a warrior.  We can't think clearly when we allow ourselves to be angry.  Vengeance and Spite are useless tools because they cut us more deeply than they cut our adversary.  We may as well drive our sword into our own heart!  Jealousy won't serve us either.  It poisons us long before we ever use it on someone else! 

So what tools are worthy of a Successful Warrior?
   

Courage, Wisdom, Integrity, Hope, Faith, Discernment, Intuition, Empathy, a working Knowledge of How To Heal ourselves and others, Love, Joy, Patience, Kindness (not everyone is our enemy), Goodness, Kindness, Self-Control ... to name just a few, but you can probably think of a few more traits too ...

Just imagine what a HERO would do!  If our lives were a movie, would we be the ones that the audience would be pulling for or are we acting like the villain? 

MOST of the things in our life that take REAL COURAGE are the things most people will never see.  In those quiet moments where no one really knows, are you acting like a HERO?

 

You know the answer ... If you are the hero, you probably just smiled and your heart felt good for me to acknowledge that most people will never know how much courage you really have.  If you aren't the hero, you probably just slumped a little and shut your eyes, hoping no one noticed.  I'm sorry.  That doesn't have to be how your story goes.

There is a hero in all of us ... an inner strength at the core of our being ... It's the part of us that rises up to protect ... We really can be our own hero!